I am photographing the bottle of “Castello” uncorked for a while, now in the late night, placing it on the parapet that faces the majestic dome of the Church of Immacolata.
The label, which shows the isoipse of the volcanic cone which then became the insula minor, the Aragonese Castle, is like a map of the escalation of pure fascination which embraces me now, at the beginning of September.
I share emotions at the table of the “Cucina del Monastero”, the restaurant of the soul as it has always been, since it revitalised the high terrace, in the west, inspired by the history of the fortress inhabited by farmers and fishermen, noble spirits like the famous ones who have spent part of their lives, in the space of a couple of millennia, fed by Nature. But I will speak later about food and tastes.
Now a thought is exciting me. The monumental rock is apparently a germination of Ischia but, comparing to the main island exhausted by the usual summer destinies/intestines, here a centuries-old vocation is multiplied, and grows in an exclusive and unique way: the cultivation of Culture and of Vine. Which is the same thing, understood at the top of the contour lines, to remain in a graphic and geographic metaphor. In short, it certifies that I am drinking “Knowledge and Memory”.
A strong stuff. “Castello” is the DOC Biancolella wine signed by Andrea D’Ambra for Nicola Mattera who, with his family, has collected the exemplary testimony of Gabriele, artist and a tutelary deity of a nucleus that has never stopped believing in love for a special place to preserve and valorise with all strength.
The vineyard is a “terramare” cru, it was reconquered from the wild blackberries of yesteryear, close to the convent garden and the majestic walls including it. It is small microclimatic treasure that dominates to the southeast of Cartaromana cove, in an overflight of seagulls and migratory birds that wink at the clusters: sometimes, and sometimes too much, they pinch it in a beating of wings. The year of the “Castello” I have in my glass is already mythical: the 2018 grape harvest. After mine, there are barely 40 bottles left in the cellar. The idea of the long aging in glass immediately gives me a joy: the yellow colour is aware of its maturity. It is a lightning that illuminates the night and the vague stars of a full moon. On the nose, here there are the humid pozzolanic crumbs and the floraleality that tease the imagination, between announced acidity, freshness and drinkability, with the mouth confirms: caper bush, grass, and then peach in finesse, with a persistence that explains as much a possible the resilience of the wine project. Toda joia toda beleza...
